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KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas. Share your story idea with Olivia.
Johnson County Community College has introduced a new scholarship to support the families of first responders in the case they lose their lives in the line of duty.
When the unthinkable happens, they want to ensure the children of these heroes still have a pathway to higher education — at no cost.
“Unfortunately, sometimes police officers, EMS providers and firefighters lose their life in the line of duty,” said Scott Craig, JCCC EMS Simulation Professor and Paramedic.
Craig hopes this would ease the burden for grieving families.
“There’s lots of concerns that the family has, and we wanted to be able to kind of remove one of those and offer an education to their children,” said Craig.
The scholarship allows the children of fallen first responders to pursue any career path offered at JCCC for free.
“Whether or not they follow in their parents’ footsteps of learning fire or EMS, or, you know, public safety, or take any of the other dozens of career or certificate programs here at the college, we just wanted to kind of take that concern off of their plate,” said Craig.
Dr. Mickey McCloud, JCCC’s Executive Vice President and Provost, said the scholarship is a first for the college.
“This really is sort of a first for us in terms of planning ahead for a bad eventuality to occur to someone and then having this as kind of a silver lining in a negative situation,” said Dr. McCloud.
There’s a motto in public safety, “plan for the worst and hope for the best.” Craig feels the scholarship aligns with it.
“I hope my entire time here, we never have to grant this scholarship,” said Craig. “But it is comforting to know that we do have the opportunity to do so in the event that tragedy occurs.”
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